Miracles
|
|
In 1917, three shepherd children living in a village outside the city of Fátima, Portugal, claimed to have encountered the Virgin Mary while walking home from tending a flock of sheep (1). The apparition relayed to them that she would reappear on the thirteenth day on each of the next 6 months to perform miracles. Although some people did not believe the children, quite a few did, such that large numbers of pilgrims ended up making their way to Fátima to witness the miracles, even though only the children remained able to actually see Mary when she appeared.
For Mary's final act, around 70,000 people gathered in Fátima to bear witness, despite none having seen any of her previous acts. Once again, Mary appeared only to the children. According to the children, she predicted an end to World War I before lifting her hands to the sky and pointing at the sun, after which it is difficult to know what happened. Thousands of people said the sun turned into a silvery disc that emerged from behind the clouds, while thousands of others stated the sun hurtled towards the earth in a zig-zag motion, while yet thousands of others swore that the sun emitted a multiverse of radiant colours. A few thousand people said nothing unusual occurred at all. |
The three shepherd children (from left to right) - Jacinta, Lucia, and Francisco (1). |
This event is now known as The Miracle of the Sun, one of the most famous of all miracles. There are three possible explanations for The Miracle of the Sun. First, Mary really did appear, and the sun turned silver, zigged and zagged, and emitted many colours. Second, thousands of people fabricated a great big lie. Third, no unusual activity occurred, and perhaps various people saw what they wanted to believe. Given that there was no evidence of abnormal sun activity reported anywhere else on earth, and there was no evidence at all that a huge number of people colluded to perpetrate a great hoax, by exclusion alone the third option seems likely. If so, how could so many thousands of people interpret the same "miraculous" event in so many different ways?
Many Miracles
A miracle may be defined as any event that cannot be explained by natural laws (naturally impossible), or is exceedingly unlikely to happen by natural laws (statistically improbable). Either way, miracles are often explained by calling upon explanations that involve the supernatural (such as gods) or the preternatural (such as magic) (2).
Miracles that cannot be explained by natural laws (naturally impossible), such as The Miracle of the Sun, are the most famous types of miracles. There are many others (3), which include The Miracle of Lanciano in 700, Italy, during which a priest in a small church witnessed some bread and wine transform into live flesh and blood, or The Miracle of The Flying Saint in 1640, Italy, during which a saint in a procession accidentally levitated into the air, or The Miracle of the Statue of Akita in 1973, Japan, where a statue of the Virgin Mary bled and sweated intermittently, and 2 years later, in 1975, began to weep. As above, there are three explanations for these types of miracles - they really did happen as above, or they were fabricated, or there is an alternative and less understood explanation that remains hidden. |
The Miracle of the Statue of Akita, showing the statue of the Virgin Mary weeping (4). |
Yet there are also events that are so exeedingly unlikely to happen by natural laws (statistically improbable) that they may be seen as miraculous. One example is the 1972 miracle of Vesna Vulović, a Serbian Flight Attendant who holds the world record for surviving the highest fall minus a parachute (5). After a briefcase bomb exploded her plane at over 10,000 meters of altitude, Vulović fell onto a mountainside, suffering multiple fractures, but she survived while the other passengers and crew all fell to their deaths. Various factors probably contributed to her surviving. First, she was accidentally trapped by a food-cart in the fuselage (which prevented her from being blown out of teh fuselage like everyone else). Second, the fuselage landed on a heavily forested and snow-covered mountainside (which cushioned the final impact). Third, her blood pressure was known to be incredibly low, such that she lost consciousness (which prevented her heart from bursting on impact). By the law of very large numbers, a "perfect storm" of factors is bound to happen once in a blue moon, leading to a miraculous outcome.
One Miracle
So given these different kinds of miracles and examples, what are miracles, really? Are there really events that exist outside natural laws or beyond the realm of statistical possibility, which require supernatural or preternatural explanations? Or is there some other explanation?
The Dutch philosopher Baruch de Spinoza thought that miracles were merely natural events that were due to causes of which the individual was ignorant (5). Rather than postulate "the will of the gods" as the explanation, or become dissatisfied at the lack of any readily obtainable and easy explanation, Spinoza considered "that miracles are only seen as something new because of the ignorance of man." In essence, Spinoza quite humbly thought that a miracle was really just an opportunity to combat one's own ignorance about the factors underlying the miraculous event in question.
If so, then a miracle is a reflection of an individual's lack of understanding and awareness. The Miracle of the Sun may not represent a lack of understanding or awareness of the miracle itself, but an insufficient understanding and awareness of how the brain works when large groups of people get together who are willing to believe. This is exciting - it suggests that by searching long and hard enough, an individual can learn about aspects of the world that once appeared miraculous, perhaps becoming wise enough to re-cultivate the conditions that cultivated the miracle.
Ultimately, miracles are best not seen as naturally impossible or statistically improbable, but as opportunities to learn, which suggests that those who accept the former don't look hard enough, whereas those who accept the latter don't try hard enough. Perhaps it's best to see miracles as a sign that we need to look harder and try harder to enhance our understanding and awareness.
At the end of the day, it's more than ok to admit ignorance about something.
But accepting it...that is a different matter.
Solace (inspired by Sam Clunie).
References
(1) https://www.livescience.com/29290-fatima-miracle.html.
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle.
(3) https://listverse.com/2008/07/14/top-10-astonishing-miracles/.
(4) https://nossasenhorademedjugorje.blogspot.com/2011/03/terremoto-do-japao-e-aparicoes-de-akita.html.
(5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesna_Vulovi%C4%87.
(6) Spinoza. 1862. "Chapter 6: Of Miracles". Thelogico-Political Treatise (translated by Robert Willis).
